Meetings and some interesting pictures

 Board of Public Works meeting

The Board of Public Works met Monday evening before the City Council meeting. A presentation from Commonwealth Engineering gave a quick update on the I-65 Sewer, Water, & Gas extension. The planning is finished and the Board approved a request for Commonwealth to seek bids for the project. The bids should be ready to open at next month's BPW meeting.

The Board approved an invoice from Commonwealth for $6788 for work on punch list items. They also approved a task order for the preparation of plans for the 7th Street Improvement project. The cost will be $74,799 and will be for designing, preparing permits, and preparing a bid package. Much of the work installing utilities will be done by the City but the paving of the street will be bid out. Some of the cost may be shared with the Redevelopment Commission. The work may be done this year. The Board approved two task orders that have the effect of taking unspent funds from the water-tower project and using them to remove 62 additional lead service lines. The Board was informed that the Park Department plans to demolish its former headquarters building in Iroquois Park.

On Friday the City announced that Walnut Street was closed between Scott and Melville. The reason was that CSX discovered a sinkhole in its tracks just to the west of Melville Street. The cause of the sinkhole was a collapse of a Rensselaer sewer line. The City and CSX responded immediately. Because the sewer line was blocked, it had to be bypassed, and that was done by pumping sewage through pipes from a manhole near Melville to one near Scott. The Board approved an emergency declaration so that some of the red tape could be ignored to get the problem fixed as soon as possible.

Below are some pictures taken Wednesday morning. First, the pump near Melville with the pipes extending to the west on Walnut.

About halfway on Walnut the size of the pipe changes. Notice how the sections are clipped together. I did not see any leakage along the route.

At the west end the pipe empties into a sewer near Scott Street.

I looked for a sinkhole but it had been filled in. Judging from the color of the stone, it was a few yards to the west of Melville. (Video of the meeting is here.)

Rensselaer City Council meeting

The first item on the agenda of Monday's City Council meeting was an ordinance for a fee schedule for zoning and related matters. Several Council members expressed reservations, noting the increases were large and wondering how they compared to what the County and neighboring communities were charging. Rein Bontreger who was at the meeting for another matter, suggested that they ask Mrs DeYoung, head of JCEDO, for comparison data. The item was tabled.

The vacating of an undeveloped alleyway in the northwestern part of the City that had been discussed at a previous meeting was passed on a first reading. It will need to be passed on a second reading to take effect. The gas tracker for February will reflect an 11¢ increase per hundred cubic feet. A quote for ADA improvements for the Electric and Meter Office was tabled because the Mayor wanted more information.

For seven years Rein Bontreger has organized a weekly car-show event during the summer that he calls Cylinders and Snacks. He would like to continue the event for 2025, but switch the location to the brick-street portion of Harrison. The Council approved his use of Harrison from May 22 to September 25 from 5:00 until 7:30.

The Council approved a public relations request of $1500 for the Chamber of Commerce luncheon featuring the Park Department and its new headquarters. They also approved May 5-9 as cleanup week. Later in the meeting Fire Chief Haun announced May 3 would be the date of the town-wide yard sale.

In the comment section, Mr Rayburn asked about a couple of properties and was told that planning was continuing on the renovation of the former R&M building and that appraisals were being sought for the building at Cullen and Clark. Mr Black, the Street Department superintendent, summarized for the Council what had happened at the BPW meeting earlier. He thanked the County for their help. He received approval to hire up to 4 seasonal summer workers. Things are moving along for the Scott Street closing and improvements around the depot.  (Video of the meeting is here.)

Tourism Commission meeting

Because of another commitment I was only able to attend the first part of the Tourism Commission meeting. Two of the four members present were new members, Erica Kingman and Randy Rottler. After approving the minutes of the last meeting, they heard another presentation of Placer AI, a subject that has been discussed for months. The company uses data from cell phones to estimate crowds at locations and can tell where they came from and what businesses they visited. At the Tuesday meeting the Commission finally approved the agreement with the company.

The Touch of Dutch festival had a request for $5000 to support this year's event. It will be the 50th anniversary event and the total budget is $40,000.. The festival will cap the number of vendors at 120. Last year they had 150 and decided that was too many. I had to leave before a decision was made, but I suspect the request was granted.

The Commission had three reports on previous grants on its agenda. The first was for the Jasper County Fair Horse Barn. The JCFA also previewed plans for a new show arena but did not request any money. The Remington Sign Project was on the agenda and I do not know if there was a presentation. The third item was the Carnegie Players who had received a grant of $25,000 to renovate an old church building at 220 N. Franklin. They had submitted a report that said they had replaced the roof on the building which will prevent further damage to the interior. They estimate they need about $100,000 of additional repairs and have raised about $45,000 of that amount.

Airport Authority Board meeting

I got to the Airport Authority Board meeting a bit late because I used the old Zoom address from their website. I got a message that the host was on another feed, so I kept looking and found the correct address on Facebook. I missed the engineer's report and got to hear a discussion of a host of maintenance issues. The new engine for the rental plane has arrived and will be installed before the end of the month. The manager is thinking of replacing the summer aviation camp with a weekly club meeting. There was one bid for the hay lease of $1900 and it was accepted. The Board approved charging the windracer drones $70 a month for a tie-down space. There was a discussion of how to charge crop dusters who are based at the airport. If a crop duster buys fuel from the airport there is no charge for using the airport, but none of them buy the fuel. If they bring their own fuel there is a $100 a day charge. The Board decided the same daily charge should apply whether or not a crop duster rents a hangar. The Airport is almost ready to launch a new website. The Bombers for Academic Excellence (BAE) gave a donation to support the high-school aviation program.

Chamber of Commerce Luncheon

The Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce held its February luncheon in the old light plant. There had been so many reservations that the reservations were closed, but it seemed that some who had been intending to attend did not because there was a lot of room left at the tables. Perhaps the threat of bad weather had an impact. Light rain had started before the event began and when it was over there was a dusting of snow on the ground.

As people finished eating, Mayor Phillips and Park Superintendent Heather Hall spoke. The building is old and historic and has good bones, but it is not clear what the best use of it will be. It was built to house heavy machinery and as a result has peculiarities so there will be difficulties transforming it to other uses. The south end has a large open space, but it has a very high ceiling and will be hard to heat. Ball sports inside probably are not a good idea because of the many windows. The City will ask architectural firms for suggestions of what the best use could be but also invites citizens to make suggestions. I think a roller derby arena would be nice, or maybe an indoor shooting range. (I am sure you can come up with better suggestions than mine.)

Around the west wall were several pictures. Below is the original plan for Milroy Park. If you look closely you can see that the Milroy statue is already there. I do not think a fountain was ever built, but I have heard that early on there was a tennis court in the park.

There were several pictures of the old light plant. This one reads: 1925---RENSSELAER'S FIRST DIESEL ENGINE -- INSTALLED IN EXISTING BUILDING Since the schools still relied on the steam, a steam engine was kept available for standby service.

There is a basement under parts of the building but it was not on the tour after the lunch.

A stairway to the basement.

Next to the the room in which we ate there is a smaller room with a wooden floor. The door is an entrance to what will be a new park office. I did not take a picture inside because the light was bad, but Visit Rensselaer did.

At the north end of the building is a shop area, part of which is used by the Park Department and part of which is used by the Electric Department. The current office of the Park Director is in a corner here.

A final look at the luncheon space. Note the heaters.

Odds & ends

Last week's Rensselaer Republican had an interesting article about economic development that highlighted comments by Councilman Paul Norwine. 

Wednesday's snow resulted in early dismissal of school, lots of cancellations, and Rensselaer snow plows clearing snow from City streets. Area schools were closed on Thursday.

The cold continues

 Winter weather continues. Every few days we warm up and we get a bit more snow. Then the sky clears and we get bitter cold. The sun melts snow from roofs, which leads to the formation of icicles. The forecast suggests this pattern will continue for most of the month.

City meetings


The City of Rensselaer announced on Facebook that Monday's Board of Public Works and the City Council meetings would be live streamed. Because the evening was very cold and the streets had patches of snow and ice, I decided to not attend them in person but to see how these first live-streamings would be.

I followed the link to the youtube site for the live stream, but had problems joining. The live stream did not automatically pop up but only appeared when I followed the link after it had started. The agenda had several items, most dealing with the waste-water treatment plant. Commonwealth Engineering had four sets of invoices for the project, and the Board approved amounts of $155,940.55, $198.56, $46,047.10, and $43,913.85. For work on getting the bonds issued, Bose McKinney & Evans was paid $30,000 and Baker Tilly $25,000. There were also two items from the water-tower project, a payment to Commonwealth Engineering for $823 and one to Maguire Iron for $105,165. The City is withholding $92,979.51 for outstanding issues and Maguire Iron is supposed to respond to a letter sent about those issues.

The meeting lasted about ten minutes. The video of the meeting is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9Qo5F3Mkno. The City's youtube channel is at https://www.youtube.com/@RensselaerIN/streams.


Here is what the meeting looked like:


The Rensselaer City Council meeting had a separate live stream and again I could not find the stream until a couple minutes after it started. The first item on the agenda was the election of a Council president for 2025. The president for 2024 had been Noelle Weishaar and she was re-elected for 2025. A gas tracker increase was approved. I believe the new gas superintendent said it was 1¢ per hundred cubic feet, but the sound  was bad. 

The Council passed an ordinance that separates the Lintner and Drexel TIF districts for reporting purposes. They have been combined. The penultimate pay request, #9, to Grimmer for $56, 691.33 was approved. The vacation of part of Prairie Street was the next item considered, and Mrs Weishaar moved to terminate the request because of the objection of one of the adjacent property owners. She had inspected the area and said it needed to be kept clean. Her motion failed on a 2-3 vote. The Building Department will prepare an ordinance, though how the property will be split is not determined yet.

Next on the agenda was "2020 Census Redistricting." Apparently the City has not adjusted its wards to reflect the census, though it does not matter much because we vote for all Council candidates, not just the one from our ward. Mr Davis presented two options that I could not see, and the Council told him to develop one of them to present at a future meeting. 

A person from Peerless Midwest, a company that does water-well protection, gave an update. The company will do some modeling to the various well fields. An advisory committee will be formed to watch for potential threats to the wells. The  Council approved a request from the electric department for a pre-downpayment of $97,668 for a new digger truck that will be ready in early 2026. 

The Clerk/Treasurer said she had received all the nepotism forms. The Line Department sent two linemen to help restore power in Kentucky after a recent snowstorm. Baker Tilly is working on a planning document for the Line Department. The Building Department announced Plan and BZA meetings for the 16th, a Redevelopment Authority meeting for the 23rd, and a special Plan Commission meeting before the Council meeting on the 27th. Plans to cross I-65 with water and sewage lines are almost completed. The recycling department took delivery of a new truck. The Gas Utility is planning a new gas line to the old light plan. There are three applicants for a vacancy in the Gas Utility. The meeting adjourned at 6:43 and the recording of the meeting can be found here.

A couple of notes on streaming: I had to turn the sound volume on my computer to the maximum to hear the meeting. The speakers podium is directly below the two cameras so a viewer could not see someone at that podium. It should probably be moved either forward or backward so one of the cameras will catch it. Overall the streaming went well and did not have the problems that many of the County Zoom meetings have had.

Tourism Commission meeting

The Jasper County Tourism Commission met on Tuesday morning in the conference room of the Carnegie Center. This year starts with two new members, Erica Kingman appointed by the Rensselaer City Council and Randy Rottler appointed by the County Commissioners. The meeting had a quorum, with one member attending via Zoom. As the longest serving member, Jannelle Musch presided. For some reason the Commission did not elect a new president, perhaps an oversight. It approved the minutes of the last meeting that had had a quorum, the October meeting.

There was a long discussion of a proposal to sign an agreement with Placer AI, a company that uses cell-phone location to determine how many people attend events, where they come from, and where they go. The Tourism director had negotiated new prices, $20K for a first year and $23K for an optional second year. The discussion was about how the data could be used and whether the benefits would exceed the costs. The item was tabled to the February meeting.

The Commission reviewed and accepted the Innkeepers tax report that showed through the end of November the receipts were slightly less in 2024 than in 2023 but up substantially from 2022.

Organizations that receive grants are supposed to report back to the Commission on how the grants promoted tourism. The Fair Board had submitted a report on the horse barn at the Fairgrounds but no representative was available so that item was postponed until February. In their written report, they listed horse shows held in April, June, September, and October.

The Connection Center thanked the Commission for the grant it had received and noted that it was partnering with local businesses. Since its opening in May, it has seen lots of growth. A couple of travel baseball teams from other counties are using the Center for weekly practices. The Center has had a number of camps and the public is finding uses for the Center that the organizers never expected. The medical side of the Connection Center has grown. They currently have 253 members with a goal of 400 by May. They want to be self-supporting and think that will be easier once they pay off their mortgage, hopefully by the end of 2026.


A grant of $4500 from the Tourism Commission to the LEAP Foundation helped fund two murals at the Belstra Farm and Garden Greenhouse. A written report for that grant was received by the Commission.

In 2026 the Commission plans to change the schedule for reviewing grant applications. They will be done quarterly rather than as they randomly come in. The members had a short discussion about advertising in the magazine Travel Indiana and approved an option that will cost $1800, with some conditions.

I hope that the Commission decides to use Placer AI. There are so many questions it could answer, especially about what draws visitors to the County and which of the grants it has given seem to have been worthwhile.

Airport Authority Commission meeting

I had problems joining this meeting on Zoom. The Airport's website had not been updated for 2025 and using a Zoom link from 2024 did not work. There was an agenda and link posted on Facebook, but the link on the agenda was not clickable. After entering the link manually, I was put into the waiting room where I stayed for several minutes. I finally joined the meeting as the Finance Committee meeting was ending.

I missed the election of officers but from the audio I could tell that Andrew Andree had been elected president. There was no video of the meeting room and the Airport Manager, Emily Hackler, was attending remotely and appeared to be sick. The Airport's engineer said that work was continuing on the master plan and that planning was moving forward for the construction of a new t-hangar but that lots of approvals were needed. (It will use federal funding, and with the funding comes federal red tape.)

The manager's report was given by Isaac Gibson, the assistant manager. There are two hangar vacancies in the old building. There were 8779 operations (takeoffs and landings) in 2024. Six people have signed up for a ground school that starts January 19. There will be an Aviation Career Day on May 9. The Board approved an additional appropriation for a new engine and also approved a hangar rental for a person who bought a plane from the person who was previously renting the hangar. The Board approved advertising for a hay lease on 27 acres and also the holiday schedule. There was a discussion of what was needed to complete a land swap of about 27 acres, with the Airport getting land to its west in exchange for land it owns along SR 114. The Board approved a couple of motions to move that swap along. The swap will need approval of the Rensselaer Plan Commission.

The Board approved the recommendation from the finance committee on investment policy.

Etcetera

In the previous post I visited Brick Built Cafe and Coworking, a new realty office and cafe. Here is the post by the owner explaining why she closed S-blended and opened this new business. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for 9:30 on Friday, January 17.

I had a picture of one of the SJC trucks used for CDL training and thought that there was only one design. I was wrong.

This coming Saturday two elementary schools will have open houses. Saint Augustine School will have a two-hour open house from 10:00 until noon until 2:00 and the soon-to-be Harvest Christian Academy will have one from 10:00 until 4:00.

For several years I thought the word penultimate was the most useless word in the English language. Then I discovered that antepenultimate is considered a word and preantepenultimate is being considered for inclusion in dictionaries.

Stay warm and drive carefully.

Merry Christmas

Pictures

Before the Rensselaer Plan Commission meeting on Thursday night, I paused in front of the Court House to watch some of the light show being displayed and snapped a few pictures. The display seems to be a loop that is five or ten minutes long.

Tuesday night will be the last night for an Advent wreath. Tempus fugit.

The entire staff here at Rensselaer Adventures wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  ;-)

Thursday evening meetings


The Rensselaer Advisory Plan Commission met on Thursday evening. Under old business was the preliminary plat for the SJC Building Trades Subdivision. The item was continued to the next meeting because there are still details to be ironed out. SJC has switched engineers to help design a lift station and that may be finished in time for the February meeting. 

The Park Department needs a master plan in order to be eligible for grants and Mr Davis recommended the firm HWC Engineering, which has helped Remington in its park planning, to develop the plan. The City also needs changes in its master plan to encourage housing and again HWC Engineering was recommended. The Commission endorsed these recommendations that will be sent to the City Council for approval.

There was some discussion of proposed changes in and additions to fees charged by the Building Department. I left the meeting before this discussion concluded because I wanted to get home to Zoom the Airport Authority Board meeting that overlapped the Plan Commission meeting.

The Jasper County Airport Authority Board meeting usually has a meeting the second Tuesday of the month and a late December meeting to deal with whatever has to be cleaned up by the end of the year. These two meetings were replaced  with a meeting on Thursday evening. The meeting began with an update on a land swap that the Airport would like to make to provide space for an east-west runway. There is slow progress and that is to be expected because of government regulations. The Airport may be ready to present something at the January or February Rensselaer Plan Commission meeting.

There was a short discussion of what to do with Airport funds when the current short-term investments mature. There will be a Finance Board meeting in January that may decide. The Airport has had a problem with a toilet overflowing. The manager had received quotes to replace toilets, but some Board members suggested the problem might not be the toilets but the sewer lines. A committee was established to investigate.

There were a variety of transfers and encumbrances to clean up the books for the end of the year. The Board approved two new hangar leases. The rental plane needs a new engine and it should be arriving in January. There were various expenses and maintenance issues discussed. Some Windracer drones will be stored at the Airport and the Board approved a storage fee. The website is being revised and may be hosted by IN.gov. This was the last meeting for the President of the Board, David Pettet, and he was given something to express the Board's appreciation for his service.

(The picture was provided by a Board member. From left to right, Emily Hackler, Andrew Andree, and David Pettet. The framed item appears to be a windsock.)



A last meeting

The County Commissioners met for their end-of-the-year meeting on Monday morning. It was the last meeting of the year and the last meeting for three of the main actors in these meetings, Auditor Donya Jordan, Commissioner Jeff DeYoung, and Commissioner James Walstra. I turned in on Zoom a few minutes after the start of the meeting, missing the Pledge of Allegiance, but in time to see former Commissioner Kendell Culp present Donya Jordan with a certificate. He recounted her 44 years of service to the County in the offices of Auditor, Treasurer, and Recorder. President Bontreger then presented these three with a canvas and something I could not identify. Below is what the presentation by Mr Culp looked like for viewers on Zoom. On the left is Attorney Beaver, standing in the back are Commissioners DeYoung, Bontreger, and Walstra, and seated at the right is Auditor-elect Dianne Boersma. (Update: Better pictures here and here. Before I started Zoom, Jim Walstra also received the Governor's Distinguished Service Award.)

After some claims and conference requests were approved, the Health Department had a request to close on January 9 and 10 in order to move within the building. Phase 1 of the remodeling of the building will be finished and the Department will move into the finished space so work can begin on Phase 2. As part of Phase 2, the conference room will be remodeled and the post in the middle of the room will be removed. The January 7 Commissioners meeting will be held in this room, the last public meeting to be held there until the remodeling is finished.

The Commissioners approved, after a brief review by their attorney, a contractual services agreement with the Extension Office. This is done annually. It approved a request by Community Corrections to replace two employees, one part-time and one full-time. A request from the Clerk's Office to replace an employee was tabled to the January meeting. 

There is a new law that requires that the Sheriff's Office get approval from the Commissioners for any contract involving money and the Sheriff had three for them to approve. The Commissioners also approved the signing of the Sheriff's contract that had been previously approved.

The State Board of Accounts told the County that the duties of the Commissioners' attorney need to be spelled out in a contract, and the Commissioners approved that new contract. The Commissioners got a brief report on three safety grants that the County had obtained, two from the State and one from the Federal Government. The County is also working with the City on a grant application for a trail along SR 114.

The Commissioners approved two changes to the work schedule of EDP Renewables for the Carpenter Wind Farm. Residents wanted to have wind-farm use of CR 1800 South finished by the start of the school year and the County wants $1.8 million for new culverts before the work begins. 

The Highway Department wants to allow observance of three County holidays that fall on Fridays to be moved to Thursday for its employees and this was granted. There was a brief discussion of vandalism and theft of stop signs. The Commissioners approved the replacement of a part-time employee in the Recorder's office.

Paul Norwine, speaking as a citizen, praised the work and accomplishments of the three officials who were at their last Commissioners meeting. He lauded Mr Walsta's work on the Kankakee River Commission. Then the Commissioners appointed Vince Urbano to take the spot that Mr Walstra had on that Commission and appointed Jeff DeYoung to the technical advisory board of the Commission. Mr DeYoung urged the incoming Commissioners to make sure the sidewalk on the east side of the Court House is repaired. He also noted that the Commissioner's job takes a lot more time than the job of a Councilman.

Odds and ends

Appletree Rensselaer announced that it has achieved a Level 3 Paths to QUALITY™ rating. Paths to QUALITY is Indiana’s quality rating and improvement system for child care programs. There are four levels, and level 4 does not appear to have anything that improves what the children get.

The old carriage house now has a roof.

A ribbon cutting and four more meetings

Ribbon Cutting for the Brick Streets

On Thursday morning a ribbon cutting was held for the Brick Streets Project.

Before the scissors came out, there were several speakers who thanked the many people who contributed to this project, which was years in the making. Among speakers was Mayor Phillips, former Mayor Wood, Congressman Baird, a representative for Senator Braun, State Senator Niemeyer, State Represenative Kendall Culp, and representatives from Kimley Horn, KIRPC, and EDA.

There was a surprisingly large crowd.

After the event, people could eat donuts. They left a lot, which were then served at the Customer Appreciation Lunch in City Hall from 11:00 until 1:00. The attendance there, at least when I went, was quite small.

Redevelopment Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met Monday evening. After approving minutes and five claims, it approved a declaratory resolution that does three things. It enlarges the Drexel/Fairgrounds Economic Development Area, it establishes the Van Elementary Residential Allocation Area, and it amends and restates the Drexel/Fairgrounds Economic Development Area. This is part of the process to create a residential TIF area to develop the area north of the Van Rensselaer School. It is also only a start to a process. The matter now goes to the Plan Commission, then the City Council, and finally back to the Redevelopment Commission.

JCEDO reported on the façade grant program. Top Link and Earth Magic have completed their work and have been reimbursed 50% of their costs. Shanley Construction has completed its work but has not yet submitted the required paperwork for reimbursement. The latest grant has been awarded to the new owner of what is called the "Carriage House." (Old maps identify this as used for storage so I do not know the source of the Carriage-House name.)

Below you can see the two new porch columns of the Mr Shanley added to the Forsythe mansion. 

Park Board meeting

The Rensselaer Park Board also met on Monday evening and the meeting has so many people attending it was moved from the conference room at City Hall to the Council Chambers. This was the first meeting at which Heather Hall was present from the beginning as Park Superintendent.

Several guests were recognized and talked about their concerns. Soccer is still concerned about the grass where the old Monnett school was located. 230 kids signed up for the Fall program. Greg Whaley gave an update on the Miniature Train Proposal. A recent Redevelopment Commission meeting provided some money to have some architectural plans prepared, and these were distributed and discussed. No action was taken.

Mrs Hall asked if there were bylaws for either the Park Board or the Rensselaer Community Recreational Development Corporation. (Park Board meeting include both groups that have somewhat different members.) There will be a search for them.

Filson Park is at substantial completion. Left to finish are the street lights, concrete caps on the fountain and behind the stage, benches, and an arch over the entryway. Next week the Prairie Arts Council will install an art work and the bird that sits by eMbers will also be added. Rental prices for the shelter and the park have not yet been determined. There will be a ribbon cutting and various activities on October 24 from 4:00 until 7:30 on October 24.

Project underway or soon to be underway include some facilities upgrades. LaRue Pool may get a facelift and perhaps a slide. Mrs Hall would like to have the mural wrap around the whole building. A pickle ball league has been established. The old tennis courts at Brookside will be moved a bit to the east and converted to four pickle ball courts. This project has received a substantial donation from a Jackson family. The Board approved moving forward with this project and now it is in the lap of the City.  It may take some time to figure out the best uses for the old power plant. 

The softball tournament scheduled for this weekend at the Blacker Fields has been canceled. Not enough teams signed up.

Tourism Commission meeting

The Jasper County Tourism Commission met on Tuesday morning. It heard a presentation from a person from Travel Indiana, which publishes a quarterly tourism magazine. It prints 30,000 copies that are distributed across Indiana and also has a web site promoting tourism. The Commission is considering advertising in the magazine but no decision has been reached yet.

The Carnegie Players had a request for $25,000 to help renovate its building at 220 N Franklin Street. The building needs a new roof, new windows, and a ramp to make it handicapped accessible. At present the Carnegie Players do not have permanent home and whatever venue is available. One of their problems is rehearsal space. The best space in Rensselaer is the auditorium at the High School, but t is used by the high school for three plays a year, the new middle school theater group for one, and Fendig Theater in the summer. Rehearsal before a production can take two months, so there is not a lot of time left to share at the high school. The Carnegie Players' building can have at least two rehearsal sites and the Players are willing to share them with others in the community. It also wants to coordinate with other arts groups in scheduling so their events do not complete. A donor is matching donations for the roof. The Commission approved the entire ask of $25,000.

The Fountain Park Chautauqua asked for $5000 to bring Bruce Barker The Piano Man to the Chautauqua. They did not have a representative to present the case and answer questions. One Commission member suggested that the admission price of $5 was too low. The Commission approved $1500.

Airport Authority Board meeting

The Airport Authority Board met Tuesday evening. They discussed a planned land swap that has a verbal agreement but the details need to be finalized. They also discussed plans for a new nine-unit hangar that will probably be built in 2025. They have been accumulating the funds for this for four years and it the hangar is not built soon some of those funds will go away. A lot of what the Airport does is determined by the rules and regulations of various Federal and State bodies. 

The old hangar building along the taxiway needs to come down but there are no plans yet of when and what will be done on that site. Fuel sales were very strong in September. There was discussion of various maintenance issues and of things not working properly. The meeting lasted a bit less than an hour.

New art exhibit

There is new exhibit at the Fendig Gallery, the Jasper County Art League's Annual Member Show. This year the theme is "Verse Made Visual."

The picture below is a painting, not a photograph.

You can never have too many pots.

If you follow local artists, you will know who did this basket.

The show runs until November 7.

Odds and ends

Below are a few more pictures from the Scarecrow Trail in Milroy Park. The first is from Fase-Kaluf.

There is no sign on this one, but I am pretty sure it is from the City's Electric Utility.

One of the ghosts from the Fendig Theater was taking a nap when I stopped by.

At the next City Council meeting there will be a public hearing about closing the Scott Street rail crossing.

There are four streets next to each other than have rail crossings, McKinley, Franklin, Webster, and Scott.. I am not sure why Scott was chosen for closing. The next street to the east that has a crossing is Melville, and that is three blocks away.

The maples are donning their fall colors.

Beneath this tree a little girls is swinging. Say "Hi" to her if you pass by. She will not answer you.

We may get a frost early next week.

A few last days of summer

 More pictures from downtown

On Thursday evening the Harrison Street/Van Rensselaer Street intersection was almost finished. It needs to be finished in a week for Oktoberfest. Notice how the use of differet colored bricks outlines the crosswalk.

Work continues in Filson Park. New pillars at the entrance on Kellner match the brick pillars in the downtown parking lots. I believe there will be an entrance arch over these pillars.

New street signs match those being installed for the brick streets.

The bases for light poles are ready.

Jasper County Council meeting

The Jasper County Council met Tuesday evening. The September meeting is the meeting in which the Council reviews budgets for several taxing units and then approves them in the October meeting. First up was the Rensselaer Central School Corporation. The Council reviews this budget because the School Board is appointed, not elected.

Mr Craig, the superintendent of the School Corporation, read a budget summary and commented on parts of it. (Some of those numbers might be available on the Indiana Gateway site, here.) He noted that assessed valuation was up 12% and that should lead to a lower tax rate. The School Board had scheduled a vote on a new bond issue at its meeting later Tuesday night that would fund new doors and windows at the highs school, new light poles for the football field, gutters for Van Rensselaer, new bleachers for the middle school gym, and new auditorium lighting at the high school. In addition to tax revenues, the schools are funded by the State, which gives $8000 for each student enrolled. That money is used to pay teachers. He said that enrollment was up this year, but the trend for recent years is smaller enrollments. The peak number of students was in the 1970s. The rise in enrollments this year was in the grade and middle school. High school was down and he attributed that to kids choosing on-line schools. The school officials then left to get to the School Board meeting.

Next the Council considered the County budget. Again a bunch of numbers were read. Most County employees will be getting a $2500 pay increase for next year. A flat increase of this sort benefits lower-income employees more than higher-income employees. A new public defender system will change the 2025 budget. The Sheriff is changing the pay schedule of his employees to a percentage of his salary, which in turn is a percentage of the Prosecutor's salary. The vote on the budget will take place at the October meeting.

The Council next reviewed the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District budget. This budget had not been approved by the District's Board because the last meeting did not have a quorum. To help it meet future quorums, the Council appointed Jason Armold to serve on the board. The District is completely funded by tipping fees at the landfills in Newton and White Counties. The Jasper County Council reviews the budget because Jasper County has the highest assessed valuation of the counties served by the district.

The Council then reviewed the budget of the Iroquois Conservancy, which clears log jams from the Iroquois River. This year the Conservancy has added those parts of Benton County that are in the watershed of the Iroquois River.

Before approving the August minutes of three sessions of the Council, the Council approved the budget of Walker Township. It could not approve its own budget because two of the Board members were firemen (and presumably had a conflict of interest).  Other townships were instructed to stay within the 4% growth factor.

The Council then approved two transfers. At a previous meeting they had approved appropriation for the Recorders Perpetuation Fund but it had been put into the wrong fund. At this meeting they reduced the wrong fund and made an additional appropriation to the correct fund. They also approved spending from a donation fund for maintenance on sirens, an additional appropriation for law books and research for the Courts, and an appropriation for a cleaning lady for the Surveyor/Extension office. 

Sara DeYoung from Jasper County Economics Development Organization gave a presentation about JCEDO that was similar to the presentation that she gave to the Commissioners the day before. She stressed that we need to create communities that people want to live in so that when opportunities come our way, we can take advantage of them.

The review of the Airport budget had been advertised for 7:00 so it did not take place with the other reviews. The Airport was established in 1933 but was closed during WWII. Fuel sales, a major source of Airport revenue, have been good this year. The Airport has averaged about 500 takeoffs and 500 landings per month. Last year the high-school class at the Airport, which has the goal of getting students ready to pursue aviation careers, finished with four students. This year the class has seven students, three from RCHS, three from KVHS, and one from SNHS. Priorities for the future are finishing the master plan and designing a new hangar building. There is a wait list for hangar space. When the Airport makes capital improvements, 90% of the cost is funded by the FAA. 

The County has a local income tax (LIT) of 2.864% and the revenue is split to fund various categories. Currently the rate that goes to fund ambulance services is .02 and the Council would like to increase it but to do that without raising the overall tax rate, something else must be reduced. After some discussion, they decided to come back to the issue in October.

The County is under a burn ban because the dry weather has increased the changes of field fires. White and Pulaski have also announced burn bans. (Rensselaer got a couple of showers Friday, but the rain was very localized so the burn ban continues for the County.)

The Commissioners established a committee to plan for a new forensics center and one of the positions on that committee is assigned to a Council member. The Council appointed Jacob Misch.

At the Commissioners meeting there was a discussion of how to account for fees that the Coroner pays for transporting bodies. The Commissioners decided that was an issue for the Council. The Council and Auditor had a confusing discussion on the issue and I am not sure if agreement was reached. The Council did agree to raise the transfer fee from $125 to $175 retroactively to January 1.

The meeting lasted almost 2.5 hours and thankfully there were no public comments.

Networking event

On Thursday the Jasper Newton Foundation and United Way of Northwest Indiana hosted a lunch and networking event at the Carnegie Center. This was one of several such events that the United Way has had in the region it serves, primarily Porter and Lake Counties but also Starke, Jasper, and Newton. After a quick lunch and some remarks from United Way (I regret not getting a tour of their mobile van that they brought), the people attending introduced themselves and told what they did. Here are the organizations that I caught and some highlights.

Level Up works with United Way to help people get certifications and jobs or better jobs. They provide conseling and teach financial skills. To get into their program, one needs to have the desire to improve.

Meals on Wheels delivers meals and as a byproduct also provides wellness checks. Like many of the organizations represented, they are headquartered in Lake or Porter Counties.

Girls on the Run of Northwest Indiana has a site in DeMotte and would like to see one established in Rensselaer.

Alzheimer's Association sponsors walks in Porter and Lake Counties and would like to see one established in Newton or Jasper County.

WorkOne has a Rensselaer office and helps people get training to advance in the job market.

KIRPC Head Start is underenrolled in all of their locations except Rensselaer.

Newton County Community Services provides similar services to those provided by Jasper County Community Services. This past year they started a community garden.

Northshore Health Center has a location in DeMotte.

New Vistas High School is an alternative charter school in Portage. 

The Connection Center in DeMotte has been expanding their programs.

Catholic Charities-Diocese of Gary looks to partner with other organizations.

I did not catch the name of an adult education group that helped people get their GEDs.

The American Heart Association is putting blood-pressure hubs in various locations to help find people with very high blood pressure and who are unaware that they have a problem.

Scouting, which used to be Boy Scouts before they opened to girls, has several programs.

Birthright of Rensselaer supports pregnant women and women with young children.

Right Steps staffs eight child care centers including Appletree in Rensselaer.

Indiana Department of Health-Health Equity Council was represented as was Franciscan Health Hospice care.

Anew Ministries provides support for young, mostly teen mothers who face challenges. They have a chapter in DeMotte.

Finally, Saint Joseph's College announced that they had purchased two semis for the CDL Academy and that they would be restarting the hoop house with the Indiana Agriculture and Technology charter school, which now lists SJC as their regional home instead of the Jasper County Fairgrounds. 

Rensselaer Plan Commission

The Rensselaer Plan Commission met on Thursday evening. At a previous meeting they did not give approval to the SJC Building Trades subdivision because some details still needed to be worked out. Apparently they were not all worked out because Commission tabled the item to the October 17 meeting.

The next item also concerned SJC. There was no zoning for the SJC property. The proposal sent to the City Council with a favorable recommendation would make the campus between Sparling and the highway as well as the bowling alley, the field south of Justin Hall which SJC no longer owns, and Mount Calvary Cemetery zoned as B2, which is a business zoning. The College Woods will be zoned RS, which is the least restrictive residential zoning, if the Council concurs. Since the Council asked the Commission to deal with this issue, it is highly likely that they will concur.

A second matter that the Council wanted the Commission to address was the need to get variances when a residence in a zone classified for business changed hands. The original variance does not transfer. The Commission voted to change the policy to allow non-conforming residences in business zoning to continue being used as residences when there is a change in ownership. It also allows, with some restrictions, a non-conforming residence to be repaired if it is damaged.

The State says that redevelopment commissions should have a seal so the Commission adopted one. I did not see what it looked like.

Finally, on August 21 the members agreed via telephone to change the lot on which the SJC building trades program would build from lot 5 to lot 1. They affirmed this change with a vote. (I was wondering why the construction was happening on what I thought was the wrong lot.)

Odds and ends

There was a death in the County that has attracted media attention. It is the subject of the lead article in this week's Rensselaer Republican.

Also in the Republican are stories about change in ownership of the Ritz and the change in leadership at the Jasper County Library.

As one theater becomes a church, a church becomes a theater. The is a former church that is becoming a theater and the Carnegie Players are raising money to help repair the building.

Milroy Park has been prepared for the ScareCrow Trail.

The County Clerk has posted the candidates for the general election on Facebook but I cannot find the list on the County website.

Maybe next week the Fire Tower at the Fire Station will be put together.

Big plans

Chamber lunch and plans for a new Show Arena


The Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce held its monthly luncheon at Filson Park. The main speaker was from Express Employment Professionals, who talked about how the labor market has changed.  Employers looking for new locations are very concerned about supply of labor and water. The days in which employers and employees had loyalty to each other are mostly gone. Employees jump from job to job to take advantage of better wages and conditions. A lot of people use Indeed.com to upload resumes and search for applicants, but often a personal touch, such as that Express provides, produces better results.


For me, totally out of the labor market, the more interesting presentation was from the Fair Board about their plans for a new show arena. The plan is to demolish the old arena and build a much bigger building where it sits. The proposed arena will be about double the size. It will have retractable bleachers that can seat up to 1200 and if chairs are put on the arena floor, seating could be 3000.

The arena will be open all year for rental. Potential renters would include livestock shows, trade shows, and machinery shows. Currently there are potential exhibitors who do not use the Fairgrounds because there is no building big enough for their needs. The estimated cost is currently $3 million to $3.5 million. The rentals are not expected to be enough to pay for the arena but should be enough to pay the operating expenses (mostly utilities and labor).

The Fair Board is looking for grants and donations. The first step will be to hire design services to get engineering designs. The expectation is this will be a five-year project because it will take that long to raise enough money. The first regulatory step will probably be an appearance before the Drainage Board in October. Donations to the project can be made to a Show Arena fund at Alliance Bank.

Above is the view from the east and the front of the building. Below is the view from the west and the back of the building.

While the lunch was finishing up, a worker was tilling the grounds of Filson Park getting it ready for a new seeding of grass. Workers have also been working on the bases of the future light fixtures.


More pictures

The permeable pavers have been installed along both sides of Harrison Street and one side of Van Rensselaer. It takes only about a day to do one side of a street. The big task still ahead is to finish the intersection of Harrison and Van Rensselaer.

On Tuesday workers were pressure washing the outside of the Drexel water tower. There will be work done inside the tank in the upcoming days.

Below is a picture of the foundation for the first house to be constructed by the Building Trades program at SJC.

I mentioned the Winter SJC newsletter in the previous post. The newsletter tells about the new SJC logo, gives an update on the CDL program,  reports on the groundbreaking ceremony for the Building Trades program, gives the schedule for the 2024 homecoming, highlights a recent graduate of their certificate program who now works for WorkOne, discusses the partnership with the Indiana Agriculture and Technology charter School, and announces the hiring of a senior administrative assistant. 

SJC is seeking partnerships that will allow it to continue to develop and expand as a trade school. The number of high school graduates has been dropping year by year and will continue to drop because the Country's fertility rate has dropped below replacement level. Those who do go to college increasingly go to on-line schools or large public universities, so the brunt of the decline in students is felt in smaller schools, especially private schools. These demographics alone are a reason that SJC can never be what it once was.

A positive note for SJC: it has cleared its debt. 

Tourism Commission meeting

The Jasper County Tourism Board met Monday. They approved their July minutes; the August meeting did not have a quorum so there were no minutes to approve. First on the agenda was a request from the Rensselaer Chamber for $3500 to help pay for a mailing to advertise the Holiday Shop and Stroll on November 14-16. This is the first year that the Chamber is running the event. It is continuing with the past practice of mailing out about 17,000 postcards to area communities. Those who attend the event and visit all the participating shops are entered into a drawing for a grand prize. The cost of the mailing is about $300 per retailer and Chamber argues that the event brings in people from outside the County who then spend money not only at the participating shops but at other stores as well.


A big concern from Board members was the lack of data to show how many people respond and thus to show the effectiveness of the mailing. Last year 146 people entered the drawing, showing that they had visited all the shops, but there is no way to know how many other people visited only some of the shops. There were various suggestions on how to get more data on turnout. There were also questions of whether there were most cost effective ways to publicize the event, such as using social media. After discussion, the Board approved a grant of $1500.

Next was a request from Remington MainStreet for $30,000 for seven new signs highlighting points of interest in town. The Board wanted additions to the signs mentioning Discover Jasper County and the Tourism logo. The request was approved with the contingency that a brand mark agreement be reached. Remington has plans for an inclusive playground and will make a formal presentation for that project next year.


 The Board adopted a strategic plan that the Tourism office and Ball State have developed. Revenues from the inn-keeper tax were down in July and August and are expected to below 2023 levels for the rest of the year.

Jasper County Airport Authority Board meeting


I attended the Jasper County Airport Authority Board meeting on Tuesday evening via Zoom. Work continues on their master plan. A property owner to the west of the Airport has agreed to a land swap. The Airport wants the land for an east-west runway expansion and does not need some land it owns along SR 114. Nothing will be done on this until after harvest. There was a long discussion of the rental plane, which will be getting a new engine this fall. The Board adopted a policy for renters of the plane to acknowledge that they may be liable for a deductible if the plane is damaged while they use it. The Airport is finalizing grant papers that will result in $151,899 that will be used to finance the preparation of the master plan. The Airport tentatively plans to do another Scareport event on October 19. The Board accepted a new salary ordinance.

Odds and ends


This week's Rensselaer Republican has the complete list and description of the people who will be featured in this year's Weston Cemetery Walk. It is the front page article. 

Another walk starts Friday. The first of a series of Wellness Walks sponsored by Franciscan Health and Purdue Extension will take place on Friday, September 13 at 10:30 in the Hall Shelter of Brookside Park. After a short talk, the walk will take place in Weston Cemetery. The series will continue on Fridays until October 18. There is no admission charge and is open to all.